The first Nephiliem
by Religion0
Summary: A far prequel to Freakyanimegal456's Plot Twist, it is the tale of how the first nephiliem became a nephil, though a story in its own right.
1. Childhood Memories

****

Prequel to the prequel. Freaky told me to continue, so that's what I'll do.

Blue-black hair fell into golden eyes.

The small child blew it out of his eyes without thinking further about it. He was working and nothing, nothing at all, would interrupt in his work.

Well, one thing always would.

He heard someone enter and familiar footsteps walk into the living room; every angel possessed luxuriant livings.

"Daddy!" the six year old squealed in delight, running out and hugging the man's knees so tight the angel almost fell on top of him, almost.

"What have you been doing, Sothar?" the brunette asked his son as he picked up, and perched him on a shoulder.

"Been working on this." the child reached handed his father a drawing.

It was a masterpiece, showing the father with his wings spread wide and a flaming sword in hand.

He whistled impressed, it was like looking in a strange mirror, seeing as every detail was perfect.

"What do you think, Daddy?" Sothar asked, breaking his thoughts short.

"It's very beautiful, I can hardly believe it was drawn by a six year old. But how come I look ready for war, but everything seems peaceful?" he asked, giving the boy his drawing back.

"It's because everyone know you're too strong and cool to deal with, so they just stay calm and nice so you won't get mad at them. 'Course you're not just a bully, you're a good guy!"

The angel chuckled and wished dearly that it was as simple as his son put it.

He put the boy back down and saw him run off to get something. When the boy had disappeared around a corner, he seated himself into his favourite chair.

With a sigh, he remembered how he had met Sothar's mother.

_Selor, young angel with nothing to do besides looking impressive, walked in Ymir forest._

_Yes, walked; his grey-green wings wafted behind him, and he still used his feet._

_He didn't use his eyes, though. He soon found himself on the dirt, looking at an elven woman sitting in a similarly position, looking disoriented at him._

_Elves were renown for they're beauty, but even with that in mind, his breath caught in his lungs. Blue hair, so dark that it had more than crossed the border for black, fell to her waist, aside for half of her fringe, which stubbornly fell into her right, purple eye._

_Luckily, he collected enough wit, just in time, to close his mouth._

_"Oh, I'm so sorry." she said, just as she returned from dream-world. "I wasn't thinking properly."_

_"Neither was I. It's simply a coincidence that neither of us was watching our steps." he laughed._

_Soon they where both on their feet, walking side by side, talking about what had been on their individual minds when they crashed._

_"I was wondering what elves have against half-elves, it's not like we can be mad at them for being better than us, we can best them in anything. And since their lives are shorter and they age faster than us, we can't have the same grudge as humans, who hates seeing their children stay twenty something while they grow old and senile." she mused aloud._

_"That is a very peculiar question, indeed." the angel nodded, biting his lower lip. "I was thinking about this angel stuff." he fluttered his wings to emphasise. "There is a lot of benefits to it, but people will never look at you in quite the same way, not to mention how impractical angel strength sometimes can be. I can't pick up an apple without it getting brown marks." he rolled his eyes._

_She giggled slightly at the minimal nuisance that seemed to be so big a problem._

_"Hah, hah, just mock me. What's your name? Mine's Selor." he flashed her a smile._

_"Mine's Aisling." she said returning the smile._

_"Aisling, pretty name." he said cocking his head._

_She rolled her eyes and hit his arm lightly, knowing it wouldn't hurt him._

Selor shook his head, it was just as well.

Aisling had been unable to look at Sothar for more than a few seconds after his birth. She had thrust him out of her grip, saying she had seen something wrong in his face. The tears had flowed down her face, leaving her to beg Selor to kill them, her for putting that creature in the world, and him for being that creature.

_"I have no doubt he's a good kid, but his heritage will consume that side. It's all my fault, please, Selor! End this, now! Before any damage can be done!" _she had cried.

_"I can't! I can't kill you and our child!" _he had told her, not understanding her request.

She was gone the next day, she had left no sign of her whereabouts, the only sign was a single note: _"I'm sorry, for both of us."_ then a tear mark.

Suddenly Sothar came bursting into the room, torpedoing so fast into his father's stomach that the older of the two didn't even see him enter.

"Daddy! Look!" Sothar squealed with delight, turning around so his father could see two golden wings settle comfortably from his back.

"You… have wings?" Selor asked incredulously.

"Yes, aren't they prettiful?" the boy asked vigorously.

"Yes, they are very pretty." he whispered, wondering where the wings had come from; surely the boy had no Cruxis-crystal?

The door burst open and soldiers poured in at that moment.

Selor sprang to his feet, forgetting the boy in his lap. "Sothar, run!" he shouts, drawing his own wings and sword.

"Daddy!" the boy wails.

"Go, get out off here! Fly if necessary! Just go, now!" he booms at the kid, cutting a soldier in half.

The young boy stares in fear at his dad before he scrambles out off the apartment's backdoor.

"Okay, bastards, show me what you've got." Selor growls.

* * *

I never knew what happened to my Dad, I only knew I never saw him again. Humans and elves both treated me like garbage, and, honestly, it was a miracle I survived.

The first thing I really remember clearly from that time, was when it ended.

I ran right into a light green skirt, I felt that the owner was a half-elf, but since I had caught an illness at some point, I barely noticed.

I braced myself for a beating or reprimand, but none came. Instead, a cool hand was placed on my brow and a gasp emitted from the owner of the hand.

"What's wrong, Martel?" a male voice asked.

"He's burning up, the poor kid's fatally ill!" a woman, the presumed owner of the hand, exclaimed.

"And?" a new, deeper, male voice asked. "We can't be concerned with every sick child in the world."

The woman rose and turned away from me. "Kratos! How can you say such a thing?" Martel cried furiously. "He'll _die _if we don't do something! He's only a kid."

"Not to mention a half-elf." a third voice asked, it was smoother than the first and gentler than the second, but still not completely gentle or smooth.

"He is?" the second voice, probably Kratos, said, a little bit of interest colouring his voice.

"Yes, there is something odd about his mana that I can't tell what is, but he's a half-elf never the less." the first male stated.

"Where-where's Daddy?" I collected enough courage to ask, for some reason assuming they knew.

Martel sat in front off me again and said something I didn't really get, it had taken too much energy asking after my father.

I felt the ground drop beneath my feet, and still landed heavily on it, coughing up what little food I'd gotten; I vaguely heard Martel say something hastily and high-pitched… then I was gathered up into a pair of strong arms, arms like Daddy's had been, and instantly fell asleep.

**I personally find it almost hard to believe that Sothar changes into a demon, don't you? Oh, well, I'll continue soon.**

**Aisling is a Gaelic girl's name meaning dream or vision.**


	2. Illness and Drawings

**I continue with last chapter. I'm thinking a muse for this, who to take… I've got it! Anna!**

**Anna: Not again.**

**Me: Hey! I'm not in for torturing my muses, you're the fun part, but if you hate it this much, I'll take someone else.**

**Anna: Thanks, I really want to rest in peace.**

**Me: cough rest in pieces cough**

**Anna: What did you say?**

**Me: A way to misunderstand RIP.? Don't get me wrong, I respect the dead and think you shouldn't make fun off them, but this one has been _kicking_ at my mind for the last four or so years.**

**Anna: Looks like I'm staying. (sigh.) Bright Winged Angel, aka Wingy, owns manure.**

**Me: What? Please, I own the persona of Sothar and his story, but nothing else.**

**Anna: He _is_ manure.**

**Me: Why you…! (Attacks Anna.)**

"He's in a terrible condition, are you sure you want me to see what I can do? It might not help at all." that was the first thing I heard.

Hi, I'm Sothar, and you're getting to have me as a guide, oh joy.

How the hell did you come into my head? As you may have guessed, you're not talking with kid-Sothar who's a real _angel_. Bah! Wish I could flush him out the toilet.

Oops, better listen in on the conversation. Of course, the me of that time had tried to listen intently; or would have, if it hadn't been for a coughing fit.

"Oh no, are you feeling okay?" that's Martel, stupid as a goose as she was. On the other hand… she was always so kind and gave me as much attention as her brother… DON'T REGRET YOUR CHOICE!

She placed her cool hand over my hot brow again. Yeah I'm hot, even as a kid and a nephil; wanna play? (Purring and smirking.)

(Me: Hey! Let youngster take over.)

Why? I'm sure the readers _love_ me.

(Me: We'll find out in a review, but I prefer nice one. He has golden eyes, not bloody. If I saw someone with your eyes, I'd run away screaming!)

Suuure… and freaky made me so I'm stolen. Might as well, see you in the notes.

(Me: Arrogant, half, male slut… can you even say that?)

Martel looks at me, at least, I guess it's Martel. The woman before me is the only female in the room… and the only one wearing green… and a skirt…

"How are you feeling?" she asks.

"Terrible." I admit, I'm feeling like I have dirt all over my insides. "Where's Daddy?"

Martel's face fell and she looks at the blanket on my bed.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know." she whispers, barely audible.

I pat her awkwardly on the head, trying to comfort her. "It… it's okay. How should you know?" tears, nonetheless, starts running down my cheeks. Soon I find myself in her embrace, she's surprisingly strong and comforting.

I cry.

I cry without thought of her hair or our clothes. I know on instinct, that she's just like Mom would have been if she'd stayed, and that I love her already. She's my sister and mother, and I never want to let go off her.

"Martel, we don't have time to wait till he's healthy." Kratos growls. "Let's get going."

"Please don't leave me alone." I sniff when Martel pulls away. "Can't I come with you?"

"Yes, let's just drag a sick child along." Kratos rolls his eyes.

Suddenly, I get into a mad coughing fit and my wings explode from my back. It hurt!

I was surprised. It had _never_ hurt before, they normally just appeared and the made their silent wafting motion. But this time they had ripped through flesh and cloth.

"Ow…" I moaned. I looked over my shoulder at my wings, and my eyes widened; they'd never been small and black before. Big and golden, lots of times; middle and green, even more often. But never small and black… and bloody.

That scared me; my _blood_ was dripping from my feathers.

Martel seemed to realize what the expression on my face meant, be cause she hugged me again, carefully not touching the wings.

"It's all right," she muttered. "it's all right…"

Kratos sighed exasperated. "Martel…" he growled. "You're too kind for your own good."

"Isn't it adorable?" Yuan whispered, earning a glare from Mithos.

**Third person… because it's easier.**

Martel slowly let go off Sothar, searching his face for any sign of, well, anything.

She found nothing.

* * *

A few days later…

Martel had, somehow, convinced everyone in the small group to in town till Sothar was healthy… which he was surprisingly soon.

"Okay, you can be a tagalong." Yuan sighed, rolling his eyes at the golden eyed who child looking innocently up at him. According to Martel, those eyes were absolutely _adorable_. He couldn't for his death see what was so cute about them. They were rather pretty, he had to admit that, but they weren't cute. The boy looked cute when he had his hair in his eyes and wouldn't get it out, so he pouted to show just how stubborn he was about cutting it.

Martel once asked why… the child told her it was the one thing he'd gotten from his mother, and that his father had always liked it the best. Then he had cried, making Martel hug him.

Yuan felt a tug on his pants and looked down. Sothar handed him a drawing he'd gotten from, seemingly, nowhere.

Yuan took it and almost choked when he saw it. It was _beautiful!_

It was a perfect portrait of Martel, sitting by a table doing some paperwork, a light frown creasing her elegant brow. He could see a fire going behind the table, it was filled correctly with all the right colours, giving the distinct impression of actual fire.

"Where… where did you learn to do this?" Yuan said, almost choking on the words.

"Nowhere, I just can." the boy shrugged. "What do you think? I wanted you to look at it before I showed it to Martel."

"It's beautiful, I'm sure Martel will love it." Yuan smiled and gave the boy his drawing back.

"Thanks!" Sothar flashed him a smile. "Oh, I've also made one of you, wanna see it?"

Yuan nods, and watch the boy pull forth a new paper.

He's on it; fully ready for battle but only training. He has a confident smirk on his lips, standing in a position as though he just landed from a back-flip.

"Holy mother of the Goddess!" Yuan gasps. "This is… indescribable! You've never seen me train, and yet you know how I fight?"

"I guess. I've seen your weapon, and I've seen you in your armour, so I guess that's how you fight." the boy looked a bit nervous up at him. "Martel says it's beautiful, but I want to hear your opinion."

"It's…" Yuan was left speechless, but managed to continue. "Martel's right, it's a masterpiece… just like the one with Martel." he send the boy a soft smile.

Sothar send him a grateful grin, the hugged the half-elves legs and ran off to give Martel her drawing.

Later drawing were switched so the group had drawing of each other, even though they all kept one of themselves.

**Me: Huh, that's long enough. Sorry for there not being enough plot stuff.**

**Anna: Whatever, we were fighting. (Stands with a comb like it was a rapier.)**

**Me: Yup. (Picks of another comb and a duel begins.)**

**Sothar: (Walks in on the scene.) Oh, bitch fight. I'd like to see this.**

**Me & Anna: WHAT DID YOU CALL ME? (Pushes both combs down his throat.)**

**Sothar: (Tries to say ouch, but can't thanks to the combs. He then sends us a glare.)**

**Anna: Lighten up, demon boy. _You _insulted us… and she's the authoress, so she can do anything she wants to.**

**Me:… Except throw my brother out the window on third floor…**

**Anna and Sothar:… Review, please.**


	3. Wrestling Matches and Bucketfuls

****

Sothar: I hate you.

Me: Why? I created you.

Sothar: I know. But you also chose that whore as a muse, and she hits very, very hard!

Anna: Aw, is the big bad nephil being beaten by a girl? (Pinches Sothar's cheek.)

Sothar: Hey! Stop that! I'm your senior!

Anna: You're a demon… and my kid's better than you! (Dances.)

Me: STOP! One of you two, say the disclaimer!

Anna: Bright Wingy here owns only that idiotic bastard over there.

Sothar: I hate both of you.

Me and Anna: We hate you too! (:

I listened to the rest of the group's conversations. It wasn't because I tried, mind you, but because my ears are so good, I had no choice.

"We should make a pact with the Summon Spirit of fire, Efreet." Kratos said.

"Why start with the Spirit of fire?" Mithos asked.

"Because he is the closest to our current position."

I tried my best to pull out of the discussion… instead finding myself listening in on Yuan and Martel's conversation.

"Do you think so?" clearly Martel.

"Yes, that kid seems odd, nice, but odd." Yuan said.

"In what way?" rustle of clothing, she shifted.

"I don't really know, but… his mana, it makes my skin crawl, and those wings… where did they come from, it's not like he has a Cruxis Crystal, right?" a rustle of hair against clothing, a shake of a head.

"I don't think so either, but…" Martel trailed.

"But?" Yuan prompted.

Another shake of a head. "I don't know, he is just so nice, it's hard to think anything bad of him. He reminds me somewhat of Mithos." (Me: Tra-ladi-da, tra-ladi-da, it's a coincidence.)

A moment of silence… it's drawing out… I want a puppy… the silence goes on undisturbed… Noishe just licked me! Aw, isn't he adorable? How can a bird lick me? Who cares, I gotta tackle him!

****

Mithos pov… it could be funny.

Kratos is telling me something about the Summon Spirits… I don't listen. My mind is playing with how awesome I would be if I formed pacts with all the Spirits… and how I have to get Yuan away from my sister.

Dammit Yuan! She's mine! If you take my sister away from me, I swear I'll cut you in half!

… What are Noishe and Sothar doing? Are they… wrestling? Without me? That's not gonna last long!

I jump in and join their fight… I don't really know how though…

****

Kratos' pov… what?

"Mithos, are you listening?" I ask; just to see my pupil run off and join the wrestling match between Noishe and Sothar. He simply jumps in and now there're three… persons shouldering and hitting each other.

"Well," I sigh. "I guess it can be called training."

"Mithos! Sothar! Noishe! Stop!" Martel shouts.

Thank the Spirit's she's shouting, her voice is far too high-pitched for a scream, but a shout, which might go deeper, a tad higher, or stay on the same level, is no problem, it's just loud.

The three fighters instantly stop… Yuan is laughing his lungs out.

Sothar, the six/seven year old kid has an arm around Noishe's neck and another around Mithos' stomach. Noishe has some of both boys' hair in his beak and a talon on each of the boys' shoulder. Mithos has a hand clamped over Noishe's beak and the other one has a tight grip on Sothar's neck.

In short, they look ridiculous, which means that I have to fight laughing. Who am I kidding? I'm rolling on the ground, clutching my gut, trying to not laugh it out.

"Hey! What's so funny?" Mithos and Sothar ask childishly.

"You!" me and Yuan answer, both roaring with laughter.

"Noishe, let go off the boys." Martel giggles. "Mithos, stop trying preventing Noishe from letting go, and then let go off Sothar. Sothar, that goes for you too, let go off Mithos and Noishe."

"Okay, Martel." the boys mutter.

"Arrrrk." Noishe adds.

"Arrrrk?" Sothar and Mithos repeat, staring oddly at the protozoan. "What kind of sound is that?"

Noishe sniffs and slapped the boys over the back of the head with his wings. Nice hit.

"Ow!" the boys cry.

It's pretty odd, really. The kharlan war is raging, and yet here we are, chatting merrily and having fights for fun; it seems just a bit disrespectful to all those dying.

"Hey, Kratos! Stop moping!" Yuan calls, and then I'm getting a bucketful of water splashed right in my face.

I blink and dry the water out of my eyes. "I'm sorry, Yuan. I don't think I heard you, did you say I should give you the same treatment?" I then grab the bucket, refill it, and throw its wet content at _his _face.

Thus starts our own wrestling match and soon the two youngest members of our group are laughing their guts out.

Yuan and I stop, smirk at each other, and throw another bucketful of water at the boys. They blink, grins, and join our fight. Of course we are more careful with the kids.

****

Third person… I can't think of a reason…

Martel looked up at the racket and saw the four boys fighting. She sighed and shook her head.

"Well, Noishe, I guess that means I have to make dinner." she told the protozoan who had his head in her lap, hoping to get scratched while she was reading.

The half-elf rose to her feet, picked up the discarded pail, and refilled so as to make… I can't think of anything! Pasta? Yeah, pasta's good.

They had no tomatoes, so tomato sauce was impossible… much to Kratos' relief.

Kratos had a broken nose, Yuan had a blue-eye (Me: I'm guessing.), Mithos and Sothar was simply sore all over.

* * *

I woke up in the middle of the night. I looked around, not knowing what had awakened me. Then I heard a slight rustle.

I went into the forest, though it was just barely big enough to be called a forest and not a grove.

Another rustle, a whimper, a groan, a sob. I stopped at the sob and closed my eyes, doing my best to find out where the sound had come from.

There, a bit to the right and straight forward.

I quickly found the place, a ridiculously small clearing with a young woman sitting at the farthest edge of it.

She's older than Martel but not that old. She's crying, a tear shining in the moonlight.

(Demon-Sothar: Such a romantic setting.)

(Me: Quiet, you.)

(Demon-Sothar: Sheesh, all right, all right, leave me alone.)

I stared at her for a moment before she noticed me. I couldn't see much in this faint light, but enough to know that she had black hair.

She looked a moment examining at me, she then nodded.

"Boy, are you with the group just outside this grove?" she asks.

I nod slowly.

"I have something you must give them. It's necessary that they get it, understood?"

I nod again and start to walk towards her; but she raises her hand, signalling me to stop.

"I'll-I'll just throw it to you." she pulls forth a small bag, weighing it for a moment in her hand before she threw it to me. "Give those to your friends, and say… that if treated correctly, something good should happen in three days."

I nod, looking uncertainly at her.

"Now, go. You must be tired, just remember the bag, okay?" she sends me tired smile, shooing me on my way.

I turned, hurrying back to camp, clutching the gift to my chest…

****

The stranger's pov… this could be so sad.

I watched him run, a sad smile still at my lips. Of course I had recognized him, he was my own son. Oh, how he looked like his father, the same face with my hair.

It was sad, though, that my husband hadn't heeded my warning. If he had just killed us, none of this would have happened… none of that which was to come would happen.

I sat back down and cried into my hands. The poor boy, he didn't deserve what would happen to him. Why was fate so cruel? It made my child a demon, took me away from my husband, and started this infernal war!

I couldn't even seek relief in death; fate had forced another destiny upon me. So I live on until there's nothing more in life for me… I wish it was already done.

****

Anna: I feel sorry for your mom, Sothar, her child turned into a demon, at least my kid's still a human. (Smirks cruelly.)

Sothar: Why you little… (Attacks Anna.)

Lloyd: Anyone talking about me?

Anna: Lloydie! (Hugs Lloyd too tightly.)

Lloyd: Can't… breathe! (Anna lets go.) Thanks, who are you anyway.

Anna: Lloyd, (Talks like Darth Wader.) I am your mother!

Lloyd: Mommy! (Hugs Anna too tightly.)

Anna: Can't… breathe!

Lloyd: (Lloyd lets go so she can breathe again.) Sorry, Mom.

Sothar: Hey! Quit ignoring me!

Anna and Lloyd: Yeah, yeah, go take an ice cream or something, we have catching up to do. (Starts chatting… insert heart-to-heart-like music.)

Sothar: I hate you… (Wanders off to get an ice cream.)

Me: … Amazing that they've been ignoring me… review whoever didn't give up reading at third line… or I'll make random appearances from 'Dark Wings' and make Sothar and Anna make out!

Anna and Sothar: You wouldn't DARE!

Me: Depends on the readers… even anonymous reviews are appreciated, I just have a hard time answering your questions… in case you don't know what an anonymous review are, then it's a review that even you guys without an account can post.

Kratos: Lloyd, what are you doing in here? And who… Anna?

Anna: KRATOS! (Tackles him.)

Me: What a happy ending. (Closes a big fairy-tale book.) What's going on here? When did Kratos arrive?


	4. Randomness will Occur

**Me: Hmm…**

**Anna: What?**

**Me: Nothing, just thinking…**

**Anna: About what?**

**Me: That a lot of my characters have family problems… especially with their parents… and then I'm stuck in Zelda Phantom Hourglass!**

**Anna: … What a waste of energy…**

**Sothar: Bright Wingy, the one with all the problems, owns me and nothing else.**

**Me: What the HELL do you mean 'Draw a figure eight'? Link is just running around, how am I supposed to draw when Link won't? Draw it on the map? (Grumble things that make no sense.)**

**Sothar: … I hate my life…**

**Yuan's pov… I have a plan, that's why…**

Holy snails, call me a banana! Are those Cruxis Crystals? Why are they looking at me like that? Don't tell me I actually just shouted the banana part.

"Why do you want to be called banana, Banana?" Sothar asks as innocently as ever.

This, of course, triggers the laughing switch in our three other companions… stop laughing, dammit!

"Sorry, Yuan… banana!" Kratos laughs.

"I hate you." I grumble into a non-existent beard, picking a Cruxis Crystal from the bag Sothar holds… how come he isn't laughing?

After making sure I have my Crystal, he moves on to give the rest their Crystals… why did I say I wanted to be called banana?

"Yuan, you're daydreaming again." Martel says, waving a hand in front of my face.

"Bah?" I say.

Yes, Yuan, I'm sure you'll be nominated to the prize for most-ingenious-comment-to-the-love-of-your-life-in-modern-history.

**Third person… I'm going to be random… don't tell me you weren't warned!**

Suddenly a girl appeared and threw a cup at Yuan… it hit him squarely in the face.

"Hey!" Yuan snapped.

"Congratulations." the girl said gravely. "You have won the prize for funniest comment since yesterday, where somebody misspoke a word so it sounded funny."

"What?" the entire group asked as one. (Me: Sorry, it just sounds… great?)

The girl looked in something resembling a film script. "Uh… wrong script." she leaved through a few pages before stopping at one. "Ah, here it is. I'm supposed to say that you need a hair-cut and should order a mango-juice. Wait a second! What? Okay, that's it! This author has officially cracked!"

A pebble rose from the ground and hit the girl in the head. **"Authoress, if you please!" **a voice from the heavens resonated. **"I am _not_ male!" **

"Who cares? You've still cracked!" the girl retorts.

**"If you are looking for the path to destruction, you're going the right way!"** (Me: Please tell me if I got that somewhere, if not, I just made up a very cool line.) **"Besides, you're still looking in the wrong script, you're supposed to throw the cup at Yuan, tell him he needs to stop thinking out loud, and then disappear in a cool way!"**

"… Is that all? Okay, I can do that." she takes a few deep breaths, pick the cup up, throws it at Yuan, hit him squarely in the face (again), told him to stop thinking aloud, and… stopped dead in her tracks.

"How do I disappear in a cool way?! It would be no problem if I were a ninja or a hamster, but now…" she shakes her head helplessly… then sits down so as to think of a way better.

"How do you disappear in a cool way if you're a hamster?" Mithos asks, almost too frightened of what the answer might be.

"Easy, you pull a cowboy hat out off nowhere, put it on your head, and ride playing on a banjo towards the sunset on a cat." Martel answered, then smacked her hands over her mouth.

"Exactly." the girl nodded… the heroes ran off.

"Never, _ever_ trust people popping up out of nowhere." Yuan muttered. "Never, ever…"

* * *

"How close are we to Efreet's resting place?" Mithos asks.

"A day on food." Kratos said.

"Are you sure you don't mean 'foot', mister Kratos?" Sothar asks.

"What did I say?"

"Food."

"Oh… that sounds like a good idea."

Everyone else sweat dropped. (Me: What, precisely, is that? I'm assuming here. …. Yes, Assuming is my name, nice to meet you too.)

So they camped for the night and no one saw them since… that's right, the people you see in the game are all just substitutes… except Martel in the flashback, she the real deal.

"Okay, stop narrating about non-true stuff, you silly/insane/idiotic authoress!" the Crazy Girl shouts.

All right, all right… (Mutter under my ) psychotic bitch.

"What did you call me?!"

Nothing… keep thinking of a way to disappear while I write about our heroes.

"Arrrrk!" Noishe wailed, waking up the group.

"Kratos, I hate your bird." Yuan said.

"I'm not too crazy about him either." Kratos muttered into his pillow.

_"I hate you too." _Noishe arrrrk-ed.

"Wake up!" Mithos shouted, sticking his head in through the tent opening. "Sothar found these amazing-tasting berries!" he then pulled his head back out.

"I hate Mondays." Yuan grumbled while rubbing his eyes.

"Good thing it's Wednesday." Kratos grumbled back.

"…" Yuan glares at Kratos.

"What? It's true, look for yourself!" Kratos then threw a calendar to Yuan.

"Hey, he's right. It is Wednesday."

At the same time, at a far away place… "Now I know what to do! Oh, wait, they're all gone. No reason to disappear in a cool way." the Crazy Girl the walks off, hands in her pockets.

**Me: I'm writing the last part late night to some odd music.**

**Anna: Kratos… (Stares dreamily into space.)**

**Sothar: You realize that you've gotten a new reviewer, right?**

**Me: Yes, and I'm happy! n.n!**

**Sothar: So am I, that means I won't have to kiss that psycho over there. (Nods his head in the direction of Anna.)**

**Me: If people don't review, you'll have to. (Taps fingertips against each other.) That is a cue to all of you readers… unless you actually want them to make out?**

**Sothar: I wonder how they like me. (Smirks confidentially.) Surely a lot.**

**Me: Keep dreaming, demon boy.**

**Everyone in the room: … Review…**


	5. New Sensitivity

****

Anna and Sothar: (Having a staring contest.)

Me: I sure hope they're not gonna boil me for this.

(Donkey appears and kicks Sothar into Anna for a kiss.)

Anna and Sothar: (Scrambles away from each other.) What the hell just happened?

(Donkey disappears in a cloud of smoke.)

Lloyd: I'm scarred for life! Daddy, help!

Kratos: (Walks in in the scene.) What's going on, Lloyd?

Anna: KRATOS! (Latches on to his leg.) Save me from that-that… bastard-thingy!

Sothar: Man, I'm hurt. I got kicked in the small of the back, had to kiss that… disgusting woman, and now I'm told I'm a bastard-thingy!

Me: Okay, can one of you disgusting people say the disclaimer?

Everyone (excluding me): I'm not disgusting! (Points at another person.) He/she is!

Me: All right, guess I have to clarify it. Sothar, you're owned by me; Anna, no one really owns you, since everyone can make up your looks; Kratos and Lloyd, Namco owns you. Well, on with the show. (Puts on a cool hat and old movie intro (the one with the countdown) starts playing.)

Noishe, for the first time in his long life, wished he was evolved to an arshis already. Have you ever tried flying with a person on your back? Well, it's really hard.

Something had happened to Sothar, and he was now lying on Noishe's back for faster and safer transport.

It looked as though something tried to burst through his back, but couldn't really for the skin. And it, apparently, hurt very much.

Sothar clutched to the protozoan's feathers, biting his teeth together, and gasping in pain. A tear escaped the corner of his eye. "Hurts…" he moaned.

Noishe cried, like a bird of prey, and swooped down before the kharlan heroes. But before he could land, he heard a ripping sound and felt Sothar fall off his back.

Kratos just barely caught the boy before he collided with the earth.

"Noishe! What are you doing?!" the seraph to-be asked his protozoan.

"Arrrrk!" Noishe argued. It wasn't his fault that the boy had suddenly dropped into a dead faint.

"It doesn't matter!" Martel snapped, actually worried for the half-angel. "What's wrong with the poor guy?"

"Maybe one of the summon spirits know?" Mithos suggested doubtfully.

"His wings are out." Kratos muttered thoughtfully. "And they're black."

"Like they were at the doctors place?"

"Yes…" the conversation buzzed on, the three older people worrying their lips bloody.

Sothar, in the mean time, wavered in and out of awareness.

**Sothar's pov.**

_"Join usss…." the voices called. "You'll be much happier as one of us. No more pain…"_

_"But… what about my friends? And… who-who are you?" I asked._

_"We are what you are. We are related to you by a tie that was never bound."_

_"What? I'm sorry, but I'm only eight years old; I'm afraid I don't understand all those fine words!"_

_"Eight? And yet so powerful? Come, let us teach you how to use that power properly."_

_"I… I'm not sure that's such a good idea…"_

_There was a sudden change in the air, as though the being had suddenly grown very mad. "You will join us!" they roared._

_Then…_ the dream simply stopped. I sat up in and looked confused around. Where was I?

And… who was I? I had momentarily forgotten.

I scrambled out off bed and stumbled to the door, pushing it open.

Once outside the room, I looked around groggily. Where was I? Who were those people that stared so oddly at me?

_"You will join us…"_ a bare whisper in my mind.

I shook my head to clear it. Who was I going to join? Why did they want me to join them? And since when did I have wings?

I felt terrible, my breakfast probably didn't agree with my stomach. I put a hand on my brow. Ugh! How my head hurt! And who were those voices that kept following me?!

_"Poor boy. I wonder what's wrong with him?"_ someone said.

"Nothing is wrong…" I mumbled.

_"Who asked him? I didn't hear anyone."_ the same voice as before said.

"Yes you did." I said. "You asked yourself."

Shocked, but blessed, silence settled over the room… then a chaotic maelstrom of sound roared in my ears.

"Arrrh!" I screamed, unprepared for the pain I exposed myself for. Dammit! Was my head exploding or something?

"Sothar? Is something wrong?" a gentle, if far too loud, voice asked.

Nooooo. I cry out in pain because it's funny, not because you are making my brain explode with all your meaningless rubbish.

"Martel, I think the sounds are hurting him. Maybe we should quiet down a bit." a rough voice said.

Yes, oh yes. I wanted to hug the man who had said that. He was absolutely right! Give the man a medal, folks!

"Please, calm down, Sothar." somebody said, her voice at a bearable level.

I nod and slowly takes a few deep breaths, then look up. Completely silence ruled the room.

My wings gently folded and unfolded, though no one seemed to notice them.

My memories returned little by little. My name is Sothar, the woman before me is Martel, the man that had spoken was Kratos, we also travelled with Yuan, Mithos, and Noishe, my Dad's name is Selor, I have wings, I like fluffy stuff, and my Mom's an elf.

And I'm hungry!

Why do I suddenly act more mature? I don't really think I act like an eight year old anymore.

And… weren't Martel just a tad higher before? What happened while I slept?

****

Third person.

_"You've slept very long, demon-child." _one of thevoices sneered in his head. _"You have slept for three months." _

_"Three months!" _he howled. That meant he was nine years old now. _"What has happened with the world since then?" _

_"Well, you can't pull your wings in, your hearing is far too good, your sense of touch was bursting a few weeks ago, but calmed down now… oh! And you've grown five inches!"_

_"What about Mithos? Has he made any new pacts?"_

_"As a matter of fact, he has. When you were asleep, he made a pact with Sylph, who is the closest."_

Oh! Maybe I should explain. The group of heroes had succeeded in making a pact with Efreet and Undine, also, it seemed, Sylph. (The toughest fairies in the entire word!)

Sothar shook his head. "Martel? Is there any chance I can get something to eat?"

****

Back to Sothar… because I've done it the rest of the chapter!

The noises started again. Ow! Dammit! Stop talking so much!

I skedaddled back into my room, closed the door softly, and sat down on the bed. I was hungry, no question about that, but those noises were simply too much. How could they stand it? I was almost dying with the pain of my eardrums exploding.

Actually, they weren't bleeding, they just ached terribly.

Yuan entered, walking as quietly as he could. As he reached me, he sat down and put his hands over my ears.

A small buzzing sound emitted from his hands; then, it just suddenly stopped.

I looked at Yuan confused. Since when did I have blue hair?

"There. I've done some magic I discovered by accident. It made me deaf, but since your hearing's so much better, I suppose it would just turn down the sounds." he grinned. "Did it work? I've been talking in normal heights all along."

I smiled. "Then it did work." I said and… I just hugged him! "Thank you so much, Banana!" I said to cover it.

"Let it go, will ya?" he said irritated. "It's almost a year ago I said that!"

"Okay, can-" I was interrupted when my stomach growled very loudly. "Can we eat something?" I asked, blushing.

Yuan smirked. "It seems you already have swallowed a tiger whole. Are you sure you need to eat more?"

At that moment, Mithos entered carrying a tray with some food. He put it down on the bed, then went over to stare me straight in the eyes.

"Are you okay?" he asked with all the seriousness only a child can posses.

"Yes, just very hungry."

Mithos smiled slightly.

Soon, we were all gathered in my room discussing our next course of action… except for me, I ate.

"We should head for Volt as soon as Sothar is ready to go." Kratos stated.

"And after that? Celsius?" Mithos suggested.

"I don't see any reason not to."

"Sothar, when did your hair turn blue?" Martel asked.

I took a small strand of hair between my fingers. It was just as cobalt as Yuan's.

Then Crazy Girl appeared and started tap-dancing.

"Get out of here!" Martel roared and kicked Crazy Girl out the window.

****

Me: O.O Interesting.

Sothar: What did you do with my hair?

Anna: Turned it blue, idiot. O.o wait a second! How come Yuan didn't use that spell on Lloyd?

Me: Because he couldn't remember it. He made it by accident after all.

Sothar: Review, folks.

Me: You have no good reason not to.


	6. What is Going On?

****

Me: I… am… HUNGRY!

Sothar: What's that got to do with anything?

Anna: You gotta admit that it's random.

Me: Get out off here! (Kicks both out.)

Yuan: Bright Wingy own about as much of ToS as the air.

Me: You get out too!

It's official. I hate dogs.

We are, right now, fighting Celsius and Fenrir. And her dog's a pest!

It thinks I looks like a treat and has been chasing me around.

"That's right, Sothar! Just keep him occupied!" Kratos even shouted.

"You're no help!" I yell back at him, going even faster. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beeping friends! CENSORED redhead! Beepily beep bird!

I know it's a bad idea thinking stuff like that about your friends, but not when they let your survival your depend solely on _adrenalin_!

A pair of fangs buried deep into my arm, sending _very_ painful and _very_ cold shots up my arm.

"Pain…" I shudder.

"Good!" Fenrir growls, then bites down harder. Dammit! His teeth just met through my arm!

I could hear it! My hearings better than normal, but not as good as without the spell.

Then, of course, I heard a _pop_ in my ears… swiftly followed by the a hundred times magnified sounds of battle. (Me: Wow, that sounds good if you say it with just a hint of malice! (Whistles.))

"Arrrh!" I rip both my arms thoughtlessly up to my ears, covering them in pain and feeling the blood seep through my grasp. Fenrir had no intention of letting go off my arm anytime soon.

Then, he let go.

I opened an eye. Celsius had been forced to give up, and the rest now had turned to Fenrir. Except for Yuan and Martel. (I know they make up half of the group… kinda ironic that they're _half_-elves.)

"You fools!" I with ease hear Fenrir gasp. "He's going to kill you. Can't you sense it in his mana?"

Then… I believe I fainted. I woke up healed and with that magic in my ears again.

"What… happened?" I asked, sitting up while putting a hand to my head.

"You fainted." Martel stated gently. "The spell Yuan put on you suddenly failed, giving you all the rather loud sounds of battle."

I nodded and looked down. This was really annoying, and it had been going on for… five months? Yeah, that's pretty correct… and Yuan's spell simply kept stopping after about a week, sometimes more, sometimes less. It was unpredictable. Huh? Looks like Yuan re-established the spell.

I tapped my nose, it itched oddly. I sneezed and some hair blew into my eyes. Oh great, now it's green!

Hey, it's actually quite pretty! It looks just like Martel's! … Wait a second… that didn't sound like me.

_"You appearance still changes, demon-child." _the ever present voices said.

_"Your eyes are now the same colour as Kratos'."_

_"… They are the coolest eyes in the world! WOOT!"_

_"Is it that hard to take your problem seriously?" _the voices were mad again. _"Nephiliem you truly are!" _

_"Nephiliem?" _I ask, but receive no answer.

"Sothar, you coming?" Mithos shouts. "I'd like to sleep a warmer place tonight!"

"Right! Coming now!" I rise and run off to join the others.

* * *

We're flying over the ocean, on our way away from Celsius' frozen winter paradise.

It's really annoying, I can smell the ocean far too well, not to mention Yuan's shampoo. It's so clear that it's actually rather painful. I sneeze.

"You okay?" Mithos ask, turning in the air so he can look at me.

I stop in midair, look at him for a second, then burst out laughing. He's hanging upside-down!

The rest stops to look at us, then sees Mithos unusual position.

"Mithos! Don't do that!" Martel squeals. "It might be dangerous!"

"Don't worry, Martel." I laughed. "He won't hurt himself!"

"How do you know?" she griped.

"Because if he does, I'm going to stop play tag with him."

"You wouldn't dare!" Mithos cried, turning right-side up.

"Nope." I said, then flew forward, tapped his shoulder lightly, and flew off with a yell. "You're it."

"Not for long!"

And so we chased each other, soon I was it, then Mithos again, and so back and forth until…

"Uff!" I flew right into Kratos.

"Uh… sorry, mister Kratos." I tried, looking up at the _very_ intimidating angel.

Kratos narrowed his eyes as he looked at me. "…" he put a hand on top of my head. "You're it." then he flew off.

"Wha…? No way! I'm gonna catch you!" and so Kratos joined the game too, leaving Yuan and Martel in the back.

****

Third person.

"Any idea what's going on?" Yuan asked.

"No idea at all. I know they're playing tag, but I have no clue who is it." Martel said, looking helplessly at the three people somewhat ahead of them. "At least they're not fighting. When we first took Sothar along, I was afraid he and Mithos would fight."

"It worked out all right, didn't it?" Yuan send her a comforting smile. "Everything's gonna work out. We'll stop the war, do something about the mana supply, and make pacts with all the Spirits, so no one can come and say they want the pact for fighting."

"How would he say that anyway?"

"'I need the Spirits so I can beat up that guy. He stole my cows!'" Yuan said, trying to sound as stupid as possible. "And the other guy: 'No! I need the cows so I can steal the Spirits!'"

Martel giggled. That was such a silly thought. "He wants the cows so he can steal the Spirits?"

"Yup!" Yuan said, covering for his mistake. He hadn't intended to say that.

****

Sothar's pov again… you missed him, didn't you?

We soon landed in some grass near a forest.

"Hm… a forest. It's better than open land, I suppose." Kratos said. "Though it still holds too many possibilities of ambush."

"I'm afraid we can't have it any better, Kratos." Yuan said. "The kids are tired and we need some rest too."

"Hmmm… Mithos, can you ask one of the Summon Spirits to protect the camp?" Kratos looked at the young, and very sleepy, adolescent beside me.

"Sure." the blonde mumbled. "Who do you want?"

"Efreet. He can keep it warm too."

Mithos yawned as he nodded. I'd say he was too tired to summon.

"Mister Kratos?" I said, pulling on his pant leg. "I don't think Mithos can handle a summoning. He's weakened from the day's fight."

"And we are not?" he asks, looking down at me.

"Not as much. You are grown and stronger, and I fainted. Mithos had to fight, remember the vow, and play tag with me." I looked straight at him. "If Yuan takes off his spell, I can do without sleep and keep watch." I don't know if I really could do without sleep, but Daddy had gone for days without, and he had said all angels could do that… and… I had wings now. That made me an angel, right?

_"No, that makes you a Nephiliem, a demon-child."_ the voices said.

_"But I can stay up all night?"_ I inquired.

_"Yes, you can. But why would you want to?"_

_"Mithos is dead beat. He couldn't handle a summoning. I have too great ears, they might as well do some good."_

_"No good reason."_

_"I want to, then. I have some stuff I need to have thought through."_ I snarled.

_"Much better."_ their voices carried the impression of a smirk.

_"And I want you to leave me alone, whoever you might be."_

_"As you wish."_

Then they were gone.

"Can you stay up for that long?" Kratos asks. "It is all night you offer to stay up."

"I can do it." I nodded.

"All right." he then turns to our Summoner. "Mithos, you don't have to summon. Sothar says he can stay up all night and keep watch. Yuan, take the spell off Sothar before you go to bed."

When all was said and done, they ate a light, cold meal, and went to bed.

"There you go." Yuan breathed, having taken the spell off Sothar. "There's still a little bit left, but it shouldn't be too much."

I nodded, he smiled, patted my head, and went to his sleeping-bag.

* * *

**Stranger's pov.**

Middle of night, small nightly sounds, a dagger in my hand. Everything was as it had been for as long as this war had lasted.

I know what had started it. It wasn't supposed to be that big a deal. The respective kings of Sylvarant and Tethe'alla had met and had talked about one thing or another.

The king of Sylvarant had brought his daughter, who was attacked when she took a nightly walk.

The king, of course, blamed his fellow king for not having a good enough security.

The other one had been insulted at this accusation, and had said the other was speaking nonsense in his despair.

They had argued back and forth for days, until the Tethe'allan king's oldest son was murdered one night. There was no proof, but His Majesty had declared war on the other king anyway.

I sighed, this was going to be a long war. Small and big things kept happening, provoking the war to go on and on!

New rulers now sat under the crowns, but they still hated each others' guts. The war had spread and lasted for five decades.

This war was going to go on for eternity.

* * *

**Sothar's mother's pov.**

Stupid forest, I'm going to die in here. Okay, that's too much to ask for.

Anyway, Torrent forest is a HELL! Why did the elves think it was holy again?

Oh yeah, because Origin resides in here. Well, why couldn't he move his Summon Spirit butt out into the real world?!

Why did I have to come to him after having delivered those damn stones?!

… Girls know what's going on with me, so don't ask.

I mutter a few choice words in elven before continuing through the forest. Damn spirit!

I stumbled. Dammit! Elves weren't supposed to be clumsy, humans were!

"Tch! Falling over your own feet again, Aisling?" a too damned feminine voice questioned.

"Shut up, Abigal!" I growled. Why was that slut so obsessed with making fun of me anyway? "What are you doing out here?"

"Nothing really, just gathering some plants. What about you?" she asked, tilting her head.

"I _was_ enjoying the peace." I huffed, crossing my arms and stared directly at Abigal.

"Reeeeally?" she asked ever so sweetly, making my skin crawl. "Are you sure you weren't looking for that bastard-kid of yours?"

That… hurt. Even though I'd never spent any time with him, I loved my son. Even though he was cursed… "I have not seen him since his birth, Abigal." I stated calmly. "You will do well in remembering that I am the stronger of the two of us." I turned to walk away, when I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Getting that kid destroyed you. You are not worth…" there was a pause. "… anything." she then breathed into my ear. "Even if you were a thousand years older than me, you'll still be less worth than me. You married a human angel and gave birth to his child. You might as well die. Your son is worth more than you, and he's worth nothing at all!"

That did it. I turned swiftly and kicked her very hard in the side.

She flew a short way before hitting a tree. I walked over, picked her up by the throat, and pressed her against the tree.

"Listen up, whore!" I hissed, eyes narrowed. "I don't know why you hate me, nor do I care. But if you insult my son one more time, I'm going to dig your guts out with a rusty spoon, rip your head off, haul your eyes out by a rope, and feed it all to the vultures, understood?"

She glared me straight in the eyes, hate and contempt burning in her gaze. "I hate you!" she hissed.

"I know, but as I said, I don't care. Now, answer my question. Do you understand?!" I roared, lifting her and slamming her into the tree with enough force so as to crack the bark. "Do you _understand_?!" I roared again!

"No! I refuse to believe he is of our blood!"

I narrowed my eyes, readying to press her windpipe into non-existence.

**_"Stop! Now is not the time, Vision of Death. Leave her alone." _**Origin roared in my mind.

"Tch!" I spat, letting go off, sadly, my fellow elf. "I'll se you in hell." I then turned and walked away.

I look downward when I am out of eyeshot. She was right. That damn slut was right, but I didn't want to face it.

In the elves eyes, I am worth less than a tenth of Abigal… and at what cost? I am now the Vision of Death. How ironic.

_**"What do you think is so ironic about it, Vision of Death?"**_ Origin questioned.

_"'Vision of Death'? What did I do to deserve that title? I have had no visions about my son's action… and guess what? I can't give birth anymore! My only child is going to turn into a demon, and there's nothing I can do about it. What have I done?!"_ I collapsed crying onto the forest floor. What had I done? What had I done to my poor boy so as to make me the Vision of Death?

Somebody appeared next to me.

"This troubles you greatly?" though it was spoken as a question, it was clearly a statement.

"Yes." I said, my voice almost indiscernible with tears.

Origin sighed and lifted me in two of his four arms. "Did you fulfil your mission?" he asked gently.

I nodded, clinging unto his neck.

"Then you may find rest. You will not die, but you will only awaken once you can live peacefully; even if it takes four thousand years for it to settle." he said.

I… I don't really know what happened after that. I fell asleep and will sleep for a long time… I don't know how long, just that it will take a long time. Sothar has to be his normal self before I reawaken.

**

* * *

Sothar's pov.**

I felt odd. Like I just had let someone down.

Who could it be?

And… what had I done?

**Me: And that's your cue to hate and/or love me!**

**Sothar: What the hell did you do to my Mother?!**

**Anna: Put her to sleep, idiot.**

**Sothar: I meant about the 'Vision of Death' thing. What's up with that name?**

**Me: Her name means vision, and I won't let you give any spoilers. The thing with the name was inspired, though not stolen.**

**Anna: If you review, she'll review one of your stories… unless she can't because she already has reviewed that chapter, you don't have any stories she can read about, or something along those lines.**

**Me: If I can't, you'll just get cookie! So press the pretty button that says review, and send me your thoughts on my, embarrassing as it is, longest chapter yet. Oh yeah, I put Abigal in because I needed someone to make Aisling mad, and I just couldn't stand the irony considering who she falls in love with.**


	7. Stupid Voices

****

Me: I… have no idea what so ever.

Sothar: I'm still mad at you, you know.

Anna: Awww! Is the big, bad nephil worried about his mommy?

Sothar: As a matter of fact, I am! Let's just get chapter eight going. Bright Wingy owns me and nothing else. Now, get off of my back!

Me: I know how you feel, demon-boy, I know how you feel…

Mithos stared at the ocean beneath him, he was worried about his best friend… his brother. He had grown to like the half-angel very much, almost like he was a younger brother.

It had been a few years ago the symptoms, that had evaded the others, had begun showing… and they were still going good.

Mithos was fourteen and Sothar twelve, making them almost double as old as they'd been when they'd met.

Sothar was getting very annoyed, he snapped very often at people, glared, and… lately he had begun acting like he heard voices and simply spaced out at times, ignoring people no matter what they told him.

He also seemed incredibly sad about something and kept muttering things like 'Mommy, I'm sorry I disappointed you' and 'Daddy… I miss you' in his sleep… but once, he mumbled something that was truly disturbing: 'Stop talking to me, stupid, inferior beings! Demons have no right to be talking to me!' (Me: Now we know where Mithos got that from.)

Oh, and… his wings looked different. They were often red and terribly sharp. Though he couldn't pull them in, they could still change colour and shape.

And that could be scaring. (Imagine a Raine with sugar-shock in a ruin.) The half-angel had once sat quietly with a book in his hands, his teal wings wafting peacefully behind him when he suddenly sprang to his feet yelling something I didn't understand, though I think it was elven. His wings blood-coloured.

"Mithos, what's wrong?" the half-angel/demon-to-be had laid his hand on the Summoner's shoulder. "You seem very sad."

Mithos looked up at his friend, relieved to find his eyes golden and friendly… and the wings are their normal teal, which meant absolutely nothing's wrong.

"It's nothing." the blonde smiled reassuringly. "Hey, wanna play tag? We haven't done that in a long time."

"Sure!" the younger of the boys grin.

"Heh! You're it!" the Mithos ran off.

* * *

**Martel's pov.**

I'm worried.

About all of us. Some time ago we ran into this elf called Abigal who instantly started hitting on Kratos, Mithos didn't understand half of her very grown references, but Sothar looked like he did; he was smirking and sniggering the entire time.

Suddenly the elf seemed to notice him… she looked very shocked at the boy, then her eyes narrowed. She hissed something along the lines of… 'I see, Aisling's bastard kid! He is indeed alive.'

Of course, we all had angelic senses, so we heard her.

'Who?' we all asked.

'Nothing, nothing at all!' she had answered. 'Now, if you'll excuse me, Krats.' she then winked and walked off.

'I hate that already.' Yuan had mumbled. Kratos had been too affected by the very physical contact to actually say something coherent.

I had… had barfed into a bush. 'What was she NOT wearing?' I had asked disgusted.

'Clothes?' Sothar had suggested, laughing.

'What's so funny?' Mithos had asked confused.

'Just remembered something, though I'm afraid it's pretty much an insider-joke.'

So we had went on and now had camped for the night, we had succeeded in calming the war, though it would still take some time before we could actually finish it.

"Here." a cup of hot chocolate was given to me.

I took it with a grateful smile, it was a cold night with clear stars. "Thanks." I muttered, sending Yuan a small smile.

"No problem, I figured you might need some." he said, ruffling up my hair. "Besides, it's a good excuse for spending some time with you."

I smiled warmly at him, fingering with the ring he had found Spirits know where. "Mithos still not warming to you?" I asked.

"Nope, called me ponytail before he stomped off. I think Sothar followed him to see if he could cheer the boy up somewhat." Yuan frowned. "It's odd with his sudden personality changes. at one point he's the sweet, little kid we all know and love, but suddenly he acts like a drunk teenage with temper problems." he shook his head, a few strands of cobalt landing in his face.

I sighed before brushing the hairs out off his face in habit. "It's sad, really. And it's odd how the Summon Spirits behave around him. Fenrir tried to kill him and Aska wouldn't leave him alone until he fled the tower." I bit my lip worriedly. "And they all seem so mad at him, as though they blame him for something… like humans blame us for simply being half-elves." I chewed on the air for a moment, then took a sip of my drink, there was a reason I had it. "I can't for my death picture what they should have against him."

"Neither can I." Yuan chuckled. "I mean, how much can they have against an orphan half-elf? He has wings, but so have we."

"It's odd, though. I think I heard Fenrir mutter something about him killing us…" I trailed staring off into space.

"Sothar? Kill us? He can barely get himself to kill monsters!" my fiancé laughed. "That's a good laugh. Thanks, love." he ruffled my hair and kissed my brow. I hugged him.

… Something still didn't add up.

****

If Aisling had wandered amidst them… as a ghost! (Insert evil laughter.)

This is not nice.

I'm a ghost who sit and watch my son and friends camping! When I get my hands on my husband I swear I'll slap him senseless! … Then kiss him back to his senses and out off them again… Damn! I missed my angel.

I saw Abigal's meeting with the group and laughed my rear off. She had been mocking _me_ for marrying a human angel, but when she shortly afterward met one herself, she flirted even more shamelessly than she did with elves. What can I say? Human angels are HOT!

Uh… you didn't hear that! And if you did, it was from a human, understood? Or I'll treat you like Abigal!

That little whore…

Anyway! The reason I'm not happy… my son is turning into a demon! And the people around him don't know! Life sucks.

If any of you sarcastic teenagers think: 'It took an elf a hundred years to figure that out? I can see why they are known for their intelligence.' I'll split you in half using a dull knife and flyswatter.

Right now my son is acting as he would normally do, his sweet self. His ADORABLE self!

Sorry, had a Mom-moment there.

Sothar is playing tag with that Mithos kid and their protozoan… what's that shape called again? Aerio? No, that doesn't sound right. It hardly matters… that Kratos guy is taking care of the dinner and the fire… which he had started with a fireball. Yuan is talking with his Fiancée, Martel if I'm not mistaken, about my son.

There's one good thing about being a ghost, no one can see it when you trip. Woot!

… I am insane. Take me to your leader! That means I can finally get to break the nose on a leader! My sole purpose in life! … My life suck!

I trip and fall face first into the fire. Good thing I'm a ghost or that would have _hurt!_ Badly… huh? A flashback?

__

With a yelp I trip and fall so that I barely miss the fire, my nose bare inches from the licking flames.

"Aisling! You have to be more careful. I don't want you to get hurt." Selor cries, helping me up.

"Sure." I roll my eyes. "You're just a worrywart." I say, getting up the rest of the way myself.

"Maybe I am, but I really don't want you to get hurt. What if something happened to you?"

"Then you'd simply live on… like nothing had happened." I whispered the last part. I turned to leave, but slipped and fell backwards before I had taken one full step.

"I think I'll just have to always grab you, Fairytale." he grins as I stare up into his beautiful green eyes.

Damn those eyes! They're just so damn… gentle. I sigh. "Stupid you. I should be able to take care of myself." I mumble.

"Oh, so it's your pride that hurts?" he raise an eyebrow. "Well if that's the case…" he then lets go off me.

I land on the ground, hard. "Ow…" I moan, suddenly stopping on my way into a sitting position when a smirking angel-face hovers right in front of my own. "Selor, what are you doing?" I ask.

"Nothing, I'm not even here to take care of you." he whispers, then kiss me very affectionately. "I will always grab you when you fall, that is a fact… but I'm not here to watch out for you. I'm here because I want to take care of you, Fairytale."

"Why do you call me that anyway?" I ask, pulling my head slightly back.

"Because both elves and love at first sight belongs in fairytales, but you are both to me, so you are my fairytale." he grins.

"That is

_nauseating romantic." I pull a face of disgust. "I thought you had more sense than that."_

"I'm an angel, what exactly did you expect?"

"That you would have flown over the forest?" I suggest.

"You're cold." he whines. "Ice Queen."

"Ice Queen?" I snap. "I am not an Ice Queen!" just to get my point across, I kiss him very much like he kissed me before. "What? Your brain poured out your ears?" I ask seeing his face. It looks like his brain had a major shut-down.

"It might as well have." he smiled like an idiot. "I take back my former sentence." he tries to kiss me again, but my fingers gets in the way.

"Selor, I don't think this is such a good idea." I sigh. I don't think he means anymore with it than Abigal would. … That thought is so wrong… I close my eyes. "This is not a good idea."

"Why not?" he asks, moving back into a sitting position.

"Because we probably won't see each other again. We might have made the mistake of our lives."

(Pause to think of the irony.) __

"Who says we won't see each other again?" he laughed. That stupid laugh! It was so… so nice. I wish he would laugh more often.

"Who says we will?" I retort bitterly. I am very well aware that I'm not behaving my best today, but a guy I'm in love with is doing his best to flirt with me (it works!) and since I probably won't see him again, I can't let him.

"This one says we will." he smiles as he hands me a ring… a marriage ring. "If you says yes, that is." he smiles that thrice damned smile I'd wish he'd never take off his face.

"Says… YES!" I jump at him, hugging him tightly, crying tears of joy while I can feel him smiling against my neck, that sweet, blissful smile that I will love and cherish forever.

EWWWW! That moment was really that romantic? Ew! Yuck! Bah! I would have barfed if I could, but I can't.

I get out off the flames, it's no use remembering such things.

I stare at my beautiful son. For a twelve year old, that is. His father's sharp and clear features, my hair, and his own eyes.

If just he didn't turn into a demon. Oh my god! What the hell am I doing thinking like that? What happened to me? MWAHHHH! I'm not myself anymore!

Excuse me while I go cry in a corner. Sniff

I'm okay now.

Mithos and Sothar has stopped their game of tag… stop laughing at me, you stupid bird! That damn protozoan is laughing, and I know it's laughing at me.

I try to hit it, but my arm goes right through its beak. Stupid Airo. What the hell is it?! I should have heard enough about these to know!

I'm trying to throttle the damn bird, but it's just laughing harder, the group is staring at u… er… him in confusion.

"Noishe, what are you laughing at?" Kratos ask.

"Arrrrk!" he says, hopping over to them. His neck just went trough my hands, I'm sad.

"Stupid, arrogant, fluffy, featherbrained, green bird." I mutter.

Noishe looks amused at me, then surprises me greatly. "You are terrible at insulting, are you aware of that?" he said. Funny, his voice sounded very feminine though it was clearly a male by the sole feel of him.

"I was not. How come I can understand you, feather-ball?" I inquired, sitting next to the very odd bird.

"Because you are in the spirit-realm. There's different rules to the people there. They can talk with animals, though not to other livings, they can go wherever they want, they have the ability to x-ray things… somehow…"

"Really? Cool! I wish I'd had that ability twelve years ago!" I suddenly blushed profusely. "Uhm… how come you can see me?"

"I can because you've 'touched' me. That breaks the 'invisibility' on you."

"What if I did that to someone else?" I asked hopefully.

"Nope. It only works on animals." Noishe looked away. "There's some good news, though."

"Like?" I muttered darkly.

"If I choose to let you, you can touch me and you can be heard just as a whisper in the wind by people who has a connection to you."

"That's good?" I asked, very surprised.

"Not really, now that you mention it."

I sighed and rose. Why was I here again? Oh yeah, because Origin said I could come out as a ghost every thirtieth year. What good was that going to do?

A hiss from the fire made me look up. It was raining.

"Oh butter nuggets." I murmured.

"What are you so mad about? It's not going to affect you." Noishe grumbled, spreading his wings so the two youngest could use them as cover for the rain. The three grownups just got a 'here we go again' look on their faces… it would have been great if one of them opened an umbrella at that exact moment.

"I'm singin' in the raisin…" I mumbled, using the word 'raisin' on purpose.

(Me: Sure…)

Stupid teens. Inferior humans! I swear I'll get at you!

(Me: Now we know where Sothar got that from… his family suck.)

We don't suck! … Wait a second! I'm yelling at a voice from the heavens. That explains why Noishe looks at me like I'm crazy. I'm not crazy, you damned bird! I'm an oddball!

_**"Return to your slumber, Vision of Death."** Origin said._

_"Okay."_ I thought happily, then slowly faded.

**Sothar's pov… I need something serious!**

The voices… are driving me insane.

In the quiet moments, I feel like I'm myself and in control. I can even play with Mithos. But, everything only lasts that long, and I soon hear them again.

It's odd, though. They've started telling me about the good things about being a demon. The best one so far, is there's no pain.

There might be some pain when you're hurt in battle, but not really that much else. No pain from my wings, no more pain from people talking, no more pain from their mana, no more pain from their smells, no more pain from… you get the drift!

But aside from that, they insult me and laugh at me, making me wish I could kick their sorry asses to the moon and further on.

_"You can if you become a full nephil."_ one of them laughs. _"Stupid demon-kid."_

I stand up on my own two feet. "Excuse me for a moment." I say. "I need to be a bit alone."

I stalk off before I can hear what anyone say. Sometimes, they're just as annoying as the voices.

"…" I seat myself underneath a tree, rubbing my eyes tiredly. "This is not good." I murmur.

_"What isn't good?"_ those infernal voices ask again.

_"That I'm going crazy. What's going to happen next? A teenage-monkey in green followed by a flying puffball running by?"_

A monkey wearing green ran by, a puffball flying just a little bit behind him.

"Link, we have to hurry and break the curse put on you!" the puffball cried.

Then they were gone.

"Okay… where did they come from?" I asked, looking confused after the odd pair.

_"Hyrule? Legend of Zelda?"_ the voices suggested.

_"What the he…? Are you guys drunk or something?"_ I ask, feeling just slightly… disturbed.

_"Or something."_

_"Crack?"_

_"No! What is it, by the way?"_

_"… None of your concern…"_

_I sighed rubbing my temples. It was so hard to believe I really only were eleven. I can't believe it._

_The only good thing that sprang to mind was that we would make a pact with Origin soon._

_… What would happen after that? What would happen to me? Would they think I could take care of myself and leave me alone? Would one of them adopt me? Probably not._

_I slammed my hand full-force into a tree; no reason to say that it split in half upon impact._

_I grab the trunk and throw it far into the forest. Did I just hear a howl of pain? Yes? Good._

_It's no use sitting in the rain getting drenched, might as well go back._

_I rise to go back to camp, but hear the sound of something snarling. I turn around slowly._

_I will wager my face looks like snow by now. "Oh crap." I think._

_Before me, stands the chimera's cousin. A big thing with two jaws, a wolf-like head, emerald eyes, rusty teeth, enormous batwings, horse hind legs, stag antlers, scorpion tail, tiger body, and gigantic squirrel forelegs._

_I… am… jelly. If it had been a wolf, it would have been so dead. But this creature of nightmares? I'm so dead!_

_Its tail rise, ready to dig deep into my frail body._

_"That thing's sharp."_ one of the voices comment.

_"No really?"_ I snap.

The dual set of teeth grins, a glint in the pupil-less eyes.

The tail starts moving faster than my mind should be able to grasp, yet it isn't that hard…

"INDIGNATION!"

The beast shriek in agony, heaving its tail back in convulsions of pain.

Did I… just cast a very difficult spell?

I gaped for a few moments, while the beast laid stunned on the ground, then I snapped back to my senses and turned tail.

I ran as fast as my legs would carry me into the camp, then stopped abruptly.

Yuan and Kratos were on their feet, their weapons in hand.

"Sothar, where did that shriek come from?" Yuan asked, not letting go off his… what did he call it again? Swallow-sabre?

"From the forest. From a very big thing."

"Do you think it might prove a threat?" Kratos asked, narrowing his eyes.

"I don't know, but there's always a chance." I gulped. The voices were silent.

The two men looked at each other, then nodded.

"Where is it?" Yuan asked, his gaze settling on me.

"In that direction." I said, pointing where I had come from. "I ran in a straight line."

The friends were gone.

"Hey, Sothar?" Mithos asked.

"Hm?"

"What did that thing look like?" he inquired.

I sat down and described the hideous beast for him and Martel.

_"This isn't good…"_ one of the voices mumbled.

_"What's not good?"_ it was my turn to ask, but I received no answer.

**Me: Good enough for ya? Ow…**

**Sothar: What?**

**Me: Nothing.**

**Sothar: You sound like Colette. (Rolls eyes.)**

**Me: I'm sorry.**

**Sothar: (Runs screaming around in circles.)**

**Anna: You did that on purpose, right?**

**Me: Yup! But I am sorry, this chapter's not the best yet. I promise that the next one will be better. And Aisling was a bit OOC, since I was really too depressed to make a proper her. She is normally much more like she was last chapter.**

**Anna and Sothar: Review.**


	8. BUTTERFLIES! Butterflies?

****

Me: This chapter should have been the last, but I don't know how to finish it properly!

Sothar: The story of all your stories.

Me: I hate wasps…

Anna: Excuse me while I beat some sense into these idiots. By the way, Religion0 owns nothing.

Me: Gotta do something about that… OW! Anna, leave me alone!

"ARRRRRRH!" Sothar ran screaming out off the forest and hid behind Martel.

"Funny, he apparently believes that you're the best protector around here." Yuan mumbled.

"Save me from them!" Sothar cried.

"From what?"

"The BUTTERFLIES!" the half-angel cried, hiding his head in Martel's skirt.

"Butter… flies?" everyone went silent, staring incredulously at the nephil-to-be. (They don't know that, but he still is.)

Suddenly, a swarm of butterflies burst out through the canopy of leaves. Actually, it was two or three maximum.

Sothar, nonetheless, screamed in horror. Resulting in Mithos and Yuan laughing their rear off. Kratos snorted, sniggered, and chuckled, but he didn't laugh. Martel… well… she stared, her jaw almost hitting the earth.

"What… did you just say?" she asked, twitching.

"The BUTTERFLIES!" Sothar repeated perfectly.

"Butter… flies?" a manic grin spread across the half-elf's features. "Butterflies… makes butter." okay, no. she didn't say that, but she did grin like a maniac. "Butterflies?"

"Martel?" Mithos asked worried, he did not like that face.

"BUTTERFLIES!" Martel squealed loudly, before running after the butterflies, falling head over heels in her giggling, and futile, attempts to capture the small bugs.

"I consider why I chose to marry her." Yuan muttered.

"I have a hard time believing she's actually my sister." Mithos mumbled.

"…" (cookies to who guesses who 'said' that.)

"I wonder how she can even get near to those terrible, fearsome creatures." Sothar said chokingly from behind Yuan's leg, though not touching it, since he had gotten into the 'pain-if-touched' time.

"Butterflies pwetty!" Martel giggled. "Nice! Like cheese!" she cried, hugging Yuan tightly.

Yuan flinched, then joined Martel, just as giggly as she was at the bare mentioning of cheese.

"Wow… there's two of them…" Mithos twitched. "And I know them both."

"BUTTERFLIES!!"

Sothar ran away screaming at the top of his lungs. "I hate butterflies!"

"_That_ is hilarious!" Mithos laughed, clutching his guts.

"Help me!" a butterfly now sat on his dark hair.

Mithos chased the butterfly away, then they had dinner, after that… they all went to bed.

****

Me: This chapter… SUCKS!!

Sothar: Why did you tell them that?!

Anna: Hey, demon-boy! Look what I found! A… butterfly!

Sothar: (Flees screaming.)

Anna: (Laughs her head off.)

Me: Guys, can you give me some ideas for the last chapter? I don't really know how to have Sothar go crazy. I have tried two approaches, but they just didn't work! Can you give me some help? Please? You know you want to! Review!

Sothar: (Runs by screaming.)


	9. Demon Transformation

****

Me: I'm sorry to say this, but this is going to be the last chapter.

Sothar: WHAT? You grew tired of me? (Whimpers.)

Me: No, no! But after this chapter comes the epilogue, and then freaky will start on the sequel. See? You're not forgotten!

Anna: Whoa! You actually _like_ him? O.O

Me: Of course! :D I'm going to miss this a bit, but I was honestly running out of ideas.

Sothar: Religion0 owns me but nothing else.

Me: That name is hard for the mouth… Sothar's pov…

We made a pact with Origin. It's odd though, he looked at me with pity.

__

"That's because he feels sorry for your extreme halfness."

the voices laughed.__

"You made up that word."

I commented dryly.__

"Sure did! But seriously, he felt sorry for you being you. Half-angel and half-elf…"

"He didn't feel sorry for Mithos."

I thought wryly, sending a glare at the oblivious half-elf's back. That was what he was, just a half-elf and an angel in his own right! He had sprouted those wings like any other angel did… unlike me.

My wings had suddenly gained the ability to pull back in, which meant that they could burst right out and harm me. We had, therefore, decided that in cities and the like, my wings were hidden but otherwise out.

We entered a somewhat large city, meaning that it was _very_ busy and heavily trafficked. It was noisy even to regular hearing. I covered my right ear with one hand, groaning just slightly.

I heard a weak _pop_, followed by a just long enough silence for me to realize what had happened. Then…

SOUNDS!

I fell to the ground, screaming in agony, my wings flashing blood-coloured behind me. People shouts, animals berthing, both stomping, humans shouting, wagons creaking, a couple making out, cloth rustling, and screams of pain emitting from so many other people than me.

Not to mention their smell, sweaty bodies, spices, meats, soaps, ground, animals, and Yuan's shampoo. (Me: That smell's gonna haunt him forever.) And all that mana! It was beating against me.

I stumbled to my feet, trying to control the lust for murder that practically exploded inside of me. If I killed them, they wouldn't hurt me.

Before I could harm anyone, I tore off; spreading my wings and flying as far as took for me to regain my sanity. My landing proved to be the top of a mountain just outside the city. I dispelled my wings, trying to figure out what had gotten into me when the noises reached me.

I covered my ears again. I was going crazy!

Though the nearest humanoids where at the bottom of the mountain, I could feel their mana beating against my mind, their smell ripped at my nose, and their _noises_ made my ears bleed… I can't take this!

With a terrible ripping sound my wings sprang out through my skin and already ruined clothes; blood dripped from the black feathers, the colour from the blood became sucked into the wings and made them a bloody-black instead.

This is the first time I've seen this phenomena, my wings are black, but they are just as big as when I will them forth. I reach back a hand and carefully take a drop of blood onto my finger.

As I watch the tiny amount of liquid, my eyes turn the same colour; for a long time I have heard a call from the darker side of reality, from the demons.

__

"Come, nephiliem, come, demon-child. We want you, need you."

they repeated that, with a few exceptions where they told me they would put an end to all of this _misery_ I can blame my parents for. A human angel and an elf? How did that happen? What were they thinking? My mom didn't even want me after that, so my father took me in for some time, until these damned things sprouted from my back, and then he wouldn't see me again.__

"Come, nephiliem. You will feel no more of that superfluous pain when you are one of us."

"I am not a nephiliem, I am fully fledged nephil."

__

"Welcome a little more pain and you will be!"

it mind-shouted in triumph.

My wings changed and became more bat-like; my eyes, already blood red, changed into rhomb's and the irises became dark-brown; the bloody-black colour of my wings spread out and became patterns all over my body, the rest of my skin became eerily white; my fingers turned to claws and my arms grew to twice their size (I thought with pleasure of the strength I now hold.) and the rest of my body followed suit.

For a moment I almost regretted my choice, then pictures of what elves, humans, angels, and _half-elves_ had done to me over the years flashed through my mind, the regret was gone now.

When the transformation ended, I howled in pleasure: the constant pain was _gone_!

My mind was filled with the hatred and rage I've always had within me for the last many years; there was barely room for the pleasure of no pain.

"Those worthless humans, they will feel my wrath." I snarled quietly, and flew towards town…

____________________

****

Kratos pov… only for a short while, then it's back to Sothar.

I was truly worried when Sothar flew off, he seemed pained.

A bloodcurdling scream suddenly stopped us.

We turned and looked towards the commotion just in time to see a house blow up.

I felt all the colour drain my face when an arm landed in front of my feet, spraying blood all over my shoes.

"We should check what it is, maybe we can help!" Mithos shouted over the screams of the townspeople.

We all nodded before we ran towards the core of fear.

An immense amount of mana was there. Odd thing was... it felt black.

When we arrived, we saw some_thing_ that looked human in build, yet anything but. Batwings stuck out of his back, his skin was either eerily white or with blood-coloured patterns, its eyes were the same colour as the patterns but large and rhomb-shaped, his clothing was a tight enough (not too tight) sleeveless shirt that allowed you to see his well trained torso, same went for his pants, if he had been human he would probably be in his late teens, his hair went just past the shoulders and was a… shockingly familiar… colour… Sothar's hair was that colour!

My eyes widened as I saw the being smirk a fanged smirk at the man begging for mercy on the ground.

"You really think pleading will do you any good?" he asked, sounding slightly amused.

Oh mana, no. the voice was deeper, but clearly Sothar's. What had happened to the innocent boy?

The being, Sothar, laughed cruelly before gripping the man around the throat. "It's so nice that I can actually touch people again. That means I can do stuff like… this!" just as he said this, he fisted his hand, crushing the man's throat.

The sick pleasure in the being's eyes as he studied the blood on his hand convinced me that Sothar as we knew him… was indeed dead.

"Stop that!" Mithos cried. "What did he ever do to you?!"

"Tch! That fool was one among many to harm me." he said, looking at my pupil with something akin to pity. "This whole city is one among many to do this."

"I won't allow you to harm these people!" he shouted, drawing his weapon.

He had, obviously, forgotten the Eternal Sword completely.

"Get to your senses." I whispered, hoping he would hear it.

"Sorry, Krattie, I have no intentions of doing just that." the being that was Sothar smirked.

"Will you stop ignoring me?!" Mithos shouted, readying a summoning. "I call upon the disciple of everlasting ice! Come, Celsius!" he then shouted.

We got a surprise when Fenrir came as well.

****

Back to Sothar.

That damn dog!

Celsius tried to attack me, only to be hit into a wall. "Out of my way, wench!" I growled, focusing on her pest of a mutt!

It jumped at me snarling, its jaws wide open to close around my throat.

"No way!" I snapped, reaching out and closing its mouth with my one hand. I turned the damn thing around in midair, so when I slammed it to the ground, its back was the first thing that had impact.

Then I lifted him and threw him into his mistress. They both disappeared in a flash.

"Damn!" Mithos snarled.

"How pathetic!" I spat, realizing just how clichéd that line was already. "I really though you could do better than that."

"Stop with the clichéd lines and come at us already!" Yuan snapped, drawing that unique weapon of his. "We can't use all day dealing with you!"

"Come at you?" I raised an eyebrow. "How amusing, you must really have a death wish."

And with that said, I summon a black ball of magic, narrow my eyes, and sends the energy flying.

I hit my target.

"ARRRRRRH!" Martel screams in pain as the blood pumps out off her. Yes, my target had been that too-good-to-be-true sister of Mithos'.

Yuan's brain snap as he stare at his dying fiancée and Mithos collapse next to Martel, tears streaming down his face. "Martel! Don't leave me!" he cries, clutching at her hand.

"Mar… tel…" Yuan gulps, staring at the blood that has a strong contrast to the green.

"Mithos, please, stop discrimination… ugh! Please, I beg of you… make this world… a… better place for… half-… elves…" a cough, a rasping breath, and the woman, who had been the closest thing I would ever have to a mother, was dead.

Somewhere, deep inside of me, my heart broke with a wail of despair. Yet the sound that left my lips was triumphant cackling.

"MARTEL! NOOOOOO!" Mithos cried, tears falling onto his sister's corpse.

"You!" Yuan shouted, glaring at me with fire and tears in his eyes. "I'LL KILL YOU!" and with these brave, if foolish, words, he charged at me.

"Tch!" I drew to smaller shadow-versions of his blade, ready to meet him.

I met two blades at the same time; Kratos had apparently sneaked into the battle as well.

"How interesting!" I cackled, raising an eyebrow. "I wonder how this'll end."

"With your dead, you BASTARD!" Yuan cried, making another attempt to get at me.

"BASTARD?!" I repeated incredulously. "BASTARD?! Says a half-elf! A bastard is an inferior of mixed blood!" I pressed him up against the wall. "Not so long a time ago, you would have killed people for calling me that! Except I would always stop you." I stared snarling into his eyes. How DARED _he,_ of all people, call me that?!

"Sothar?" he gasped, then the fury returned. "You spoiled BRAT!" he tried to kick me, but found that it's impossible when your legs are pressed against a wall.

I jumped back just as Kratos made an attempt to hit me with a Sonic Thrust.

"So, you want to fight me for real, eh? Well you're welcome!"

"THUNDER CRASH!" Yuan yelled, but his aim was horrible due to the tears flooding his eyes.

"Tch!" I stated, crossing my weapons readying for some magic of my own.

Kratos noticed this, and raced towards me.

Right before his sword found its goal, I released the magic. "CYCLONE!" I yelled.

The furious winds hit the auburn haired swordsman, and, with perfect control, I somehow steered the winds into Yuan, so they both were hit by the attack.

"This… is not going well." Kratos murmured.

"It's going perfectly well for me!" I said with a smirk.

"Not for long!" Yuan shouted, jumping to his feet, starting a furious attack, Kratos close after him.

With both warriors at me, I found myself pretty hard pressed.

After a some minutes with heated battle, I stepped on something… odd.

I slashed both my former comrades away, then looked down at what it was.

_"Oh no!"_ the voices cried. They're still there? _"That book… demons can be caught in it! Hurry up! Get away from it before…"_

Too late.

Mithos had cast an angel spell on me that also hit the book, activating it. It did its job and swallowed the nearest nephil. More detailed?

Pain lanced through my body as a simple Angel Feathers tore through my one arm, one of the disks also hitting the book, thereby activating it.

My eye averted to the book for just a moment because of the buzzing sound coming from it. Then I instantly swirled around, staring wide-eyed at the humming and glowing book.

_"Too late."_ the voices mourned. _"You are going to get caught."_

I turned again, glaring insanely at my former companions. I knew my eyes glowed a fiery red. I had no time to come with some overdramatic, yet impressive, speech; I merely lifted my hand and cast Explosion.

A feeling of being pulled at, shoved to, of being cast around from one side to the other, of being shaken and blended like a… milkshake.

Then nothing.

I opened my eyes and saw myself standing on a platform, demon-like beings grovelling at my feet and staring up at me with bloody eyes.

"Master." one of them growled, and I smirked.

* * *

**Four thousand years later…**

"And that," Kratos concluded his tale. "Is the story of the first Nephiliem."

Lloyd stared bug-eyed at his father. "Dad did… Sothar really do that? Turned into a demon and killed Martel?"

Both Yuan and Mithos flinched at the mention of their beloved's, and former beloved's, name; all three nodded, though.

"How come none of you ever said anything before?" Anna asked, suspiciously.

"Well, Kratos lost his memory, Mithos got caught up in his sorrow, and probably repressed the painful memory of his old play friend, I did pretty much the same in the first few centuries, then I started the Renegades and Mithos the Cruxis." Yuan explained, ending with a shrug. "That kept us both pretty busy."

"And you just happened to forget the spell you used on Demon-boy?"

"Yes, I kept associating it with Sothar and, at some point since I didn't use it, I forgot it."

Anna looked over at Raine for a confirmation, which she got.

"It's really rather sad. Lloyd might have ended just like Sothar." Genis sighed. "He sounded like such a nice person, yet he became a demon. Literally."

Just outside the door, a smirking demon stood, had he been human he would be in his mid-twenties. "So we have another Nephiliem, eh? Well that's going to be fun." Sothar cast a quick glance into the room, counting the people and checking how they looked. "Well, well, I'll have to remember that I was meant to live a most sinful life. And there's no bigger sin than degrading an angel." he purred. Flipping his hair out of his eyes cockily before returning to nifelheim. (Me: Did you know that 'nifelheim' came from Norse mythology? 'Heim' means 'Home'. As does 'Asgard', this is the home of the gods.)

* * *

**Aisling's pov.**

I swore as loudly as I could that I would someday press a fish up that arrogant, bastardy Summon Spirit's ass!

Yes, it was nice of him to lay me in eternal slumber. Yes, it was nice of him to awake me so I could see what had happened to the world during my sleep. But he could bloody well have awoken me on the ground instead of dropping me in a lake! And he might bloody well also have taken me out of my period!

Yes, elves have periods as well! Get those mouths shut, will ya?!

… I think I just scared a bird or two away…

I haul myself out of the water, wringing my hair whilst walking towards Heimdall. (Me: The guard of the bridge to the heavens.)

I entered the village, scanning the area. "Well, aside from the destruction, nothing seems changed." I commented dryly.

I started walking through the village, stopping when I was halfway through. Am I right in assuming that I haven't been bothered by Abigal yet? This can only mean three things, one: she's dead. Two: she has no idea I'm here and is sleeping. Three: she's not in town.

Either way, I'm lucky!

"Hello, clumsy."

Alas, luck is fleeting.

"Hello, slut." I retorted. "What do you want? Another intimate moment with tree trunk?" I turned to look at her, counting myself very lucky for not slipping. Maybe four-thousand years of sleep has been good for me.

The devil was smiling at me, like a cat at a cornered canary. "Welcome back among the living."

****

Me: And… cut. Well, I hope you enjoyed the ending. ^_^ I know I didn't use any of your great suggestions, but I all of a sudden turned my eyes towards this ending, and I didn't think it looked half-bad anyways, so…

Sothar: My Mom's… alive?

Me: Yup! ^_^ Oh, and freaky? When you start writing the sequel, can you then tell people about this? Just for the readers sake so they know about Sothar and Aisling? And, uh… I have considered making an alternative, nothing big, Sothar just never meets the Kharlan-heroes except for at the end… if that sounds all right? Well, um, good writing. ^_^ I hope you enjoyed it, though I have to admit it was pretty bad sometimes.

Sothar: Sometimes?

Me: I liked the scenes with your mother. That reminds me, don't you dare drop her! You're welcome to declare Abigal dead, I'll just delete that last part.

**Ps. I made a drawing of Sothar, there's a link to it on my profile. I have, as of yet, only posted the grey version, though I have a coloured version ready.**


End file.
